Five Students Win Top Honors In 1999 BIO GENEius Awards

SEATTLE, Washington, (May 17, 1999) Five students from across the nation were honored today as the 1999 winners of the BIO GENEius awards. Presentations were made during the BIO '99 International Meeting & Exhibition, in Seattle, Washington.

BIO '99 marks the sixth year the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has honored middle and high school students whose biotechnology-related science fair projects have been selected for special recognition. Sponsors are BIO, KPMG LLP, and Pasteur Merieux Connaught.

Cash prizes are awarded and split equally between the students and their schools. First place receives $1,500; second place $1,000; and third place $500. In six years, the sponsors have awarded more than $60,000 in prize money.

First place winners from cities that hosted previousBIO annual meetings received their prizes today along with the first, second and third place selections from Seattle's regional contest. All student projects, including those from 14 Seattle finalists, are on display at BIO '99.

The 1999 first place winners of the BIO GENEius awards are from the Toronto, San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York City regions, in addition to Seattle. They are:

Ashley Haugen, of Sumner High School, Sumner, Wash., for a project titled, Bio-Solids as a Replacement for Fertilizer.

Max Kelly, of Northern Secondary School, Toronto, for a project titled, The Identification of Phages Suitable for Use in Phage Therapy to Treat MRSA.

Eric Stern, of Great Neck South High School, Great Neck, N.Y., for a project titled, Alzheimer's Disease and ICAB: Role of Enzymatic Activity in AB-Induced Cytotoxicity.

Moriah K. Nachbaur, of Crystal Springs Uplands School, in Hillsborough, Calif., for a project titled, Anna's Choice II: Do Anna's Hummingbirds Prefer Feeders with Perches?

Joshua Donaldson, of Tri-County Home Educators, in Mount Holly, N.J., for a project titled, The India Rubber Man: Can an Oligonucleotide be Designed to Detect This Mutation?

Second place in Seattle went to Yasmin Barrios, of Sunnyside Senior High School, Sunnyside, Wash. Third place was won by Sadie Gregg, of Columbia River High School, of Vancouver.

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